The Red Pony - Alternate Ending
by BlueRoseRabbit
Summary: The book was terrible. This here, though, is an alternate ending- Nellie lives, and gives birth to twin colts. One of these colts is strange and magical, and a perfect gift for the Allfather. Thor and Loki come to get it.


I hated this book so I decided to make it a little more interesting.

This contains excerpts from the actual book, typed up just as they were in the story. I may have modified some to fit my plot devices. I do not own The Red Pony (thank goodness). That honor(?) goes to John Steinbeck.

This starts around page 67 and 68. Jody, the young boy, has paid to have his mare Nellie impregnated. It's been months and months, and Nellie has swollen right up.

* * *

The mare was swelling so greatly that Jody became alarmed. "She'll pop wide open," he said to Billy.

Billy laid his strong square hand against Nellie's swollen abdomen. "Feel here," he said quietly. "You can feel it move. I guess it would surprise you if there were twin colts."

"You don't think so?" Jody cried. "You don't think it will be twins, do you, Billy?"

"No, I don't, but it does happen, sometimes."

But it would be twins. Twins of an altogether different sort.

* * *

It seemed to Jody that he had just closed his eyes to try to go to sleep when he was shaken violently by the shoulder. Billy Buck stood beside him, holding a lantern in his hand. "Get up," he said. "Hurry up." He turned and walked quickly out of the room.

Mrs. Tiflin called, "What's the matter? Is that you, Billy?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Is Nellie ready?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"All right, I'll get up and heat some water in case you need it."

Jody jumped into his clothes so quickly that he was out the back door before Billy's swinging lantern was halfway to the barn. There was a rim of dawn on the mountain-tops, but no light had penetrated into the cup of the ranch yet. Jody ran frantically after the lantern and caught up to Billy just as he reached the barn. Billy hung the lantern to a nail on the stall-side and took off his blue denim coat. Jody saw that he only wore a sleeveless shirt under it.

Nellie lay down on the hay, panting. An odd looking fluid came out of her, and her muscles spasmed.

Jody watched with fascination as Nellie delivered the first colt. The forelegs and nose showed first, and the rest of it followed. Nellie screamed as Billy caught the colt and passed it to Carl, Jody's father, who beckoned to Jody and began to show him how to clean the colt.

"There's another one!" Billy cried out, and Nellie began to scream again. This next colt came out with some difficulties, but both colts survived the delivery, although the second was bizarre. Billy cleaned that one, swearing all the while in astonishment. The first colt shakily nursed and a lot of bloody stuff came out of Nellie.

The first colt was black with navy blue eyes and a little white spot on its forehead. Pretty as a picture and healthy as a horse. The second colt, however, was dappled grey with a black mane, and it had eight legs. Its eyes were a bright green.

"That's a devil horse," Jody's father said, making a gesture with his hands, "and it don't belong here."

"But, sir, it came out healthy, and Nellie lived, sir." Jody protested nervously. "Maybe it's not a devil horse. Maybe it's a angel horse. Sir."

"Well, I ain't raising it." Said Billy.

"I'll do it. I'll raise both of them." Jody said impulsively.

The eight-legged colt stayed.

* * *

Jody smiled happily as he watched Nighthoof and Quicksilver graze in the pasture. He had picked the names himself. He had wanted to name Nighthoof, the black colt, "Black Demon," but his father wouldn't let him. "It's bad enough we have one demon horse. We don't need no more."

Jody had become fond of Quicksilver, even though he had eight legs. His muscles were firm and well defined, and he was faster than Nighthoof. The extra legs did not impede Quicksilver, they enhanced him. Nighthoof was fast, too, but he couldn't compete with Quicksilver's natural born abilities.

Suddenly, there was a loud booming noise and a shudder in the ground. Nighthoof and the other horses pranced nervously, but Quicksilver only looked towards the sound eagerly. It appeared to have come from somewhere near the mountains.

"Jody!" Mrs. Tiflin called anxiously, and Jody ran to her.

"I'm alright, ma'am. That sure did spook the horses, though." Jody said soothingly.

"What was it, do you think?" Mrs. Tiflin asked her husband, who had also come in, with fear.

None of them could have guessed it was two Asgardians (well, one Asgardian and a Jotun who didn't know he was a Jotun) heeding the words of the Gatekeeper, Heimdall.

* * *

"I still do not understand why we must come to Midgard, of all places." Thor Odinson said with impatience as he and his brother trekked towards the place Heimdall had pointed them in the direction of. "How could a gift for Father be here?"

"I know not of the ways of the Gatekeeper, Thor, but I do know- and you know this as well as I- that he is wise, and there is certainly a reason for this escapade." Loki murmured, trying to soothe his older brother, who had an infamous temper.

"Ah! There is a place of dwelling! Mayhaps we might check there for this so-called 'enchanted gift,'" Thor proclaimed loudly, gesturing to what appeared to be a farm of some sort. Loki nodded. As they walked towards the farm, Loki noticed a fenced in grassy area that contained several horses. One had an aura about it that caught Loki's attention. His eyes widened.

An eight-legged colt with hints of Asgardian magic about it! It could grow up to be a fine steed for Father!

Thor didn't notice, of course. _Daft fool,_ Loki thought with the tiniest hint of affection.

They approached the door to the main house and paused outside. Loki turned to his older brother. "Brother, please let me do the talking, I-"

"Yes, yes, you have a gift with words, we all know that, Silvertongue." Thor said with a teasing smile on his face. Loki tried not to show how the nickname hurt him. Thor's friends called him Silvertongue, too, but they were not nearly as nice about it.

Loki rapped on the door politely and stood with his hands clasped behind his back. The door opened slightly. A young Midgardian boy stared up at Loki with wide eyes.

"Greetings, young one, might we speak to the owner of this establishment?" Loki asked politely. The boy paused before calling out, "Sir! There's two strangers here in different clothing asking for you!"

Loki waited patiently (and Thor impatiently) for the man to come to the door. He did, and Loki was unimpressed, though he made sure not to let it show. "We would like to purchase the fine, dappled horse with the multiple appendages, if you are not opposed to the idea." Loki said. The man looked blankly at them for a moment before comprehending.

"Oh, you mean the demon horse." He looked over Loki and Thor for a moment, thinking them strange for their clothing, no doubt, before calling the boy back. "Jody, come here!"

"Yes, sir?" The little boy approached hesitantly.

"These two boys here want to buy Quicksilver. How much you want to sell him for?"

Thor stiffened and looked angry at being called "boy," but Loki held up a hand behind his back in a wordless gesture that communicated that Thor needed to reign in his temper.

"Sell Quicksilver? But-"

"You still have Nighthoof. Come on, Jody, or I'll choose a price for you."

The boy, Jody, bit his lip. "What are you gonna do to him?" He asked Loki.

"He shall be a splendid gift for our father," Thor interrupted with an astounding amount of patience.

The boy thought it over, his mouth working. "Okay. Six dollars."

Loki frowned. "I'm afraid I'm unfamiliar with your currency. Might you show me an example?"

The man frowned in suspicion but handed him a slip of paper. "Six of those."

Loki turned the paper over in his hands, studied it a bit, and nodded. "Very well." He handed the paper back and waved his hands, letting the magic flow through him. He ended up with six duplicates of the original paper. "Will this be suitable?"

The man snatched up the money and handed half of it to the boy. "Jody, show them the colt. He's all yours," The man said, gesturing to the horse in the distance, before nudging his son towards them and shutting the door.

"Come on, then," Jody said miserably as he walked them over. He opened the gate and made for another building when suddenly Quicksilver trotted right up to Loki and nuzzled his hand.

"A wonderful beast!" Thor praised. "Your name will not be forgotten, Young Jody," he exclaimed, patting the surprised boy on the head.

"Come, then, Thor. Farewell, boy." Loki led the horse and his older brother away from the pasture a ways before looking up to the sky. "Heimdall! Open the Gate!"

Jody watched in awe as a bright light enveloped Quicksilver and the two men before they vanished, leaving a large imprinted pattern on the ground. His mouth worked rapidly as his mind tried to comprehend what he had just seen.

* * *

Odin had been pleased with his gift. He had renamed the colt Sleipnir and handed him to his finest horse trainer.

* * *

Jody would tell the tale of the magic men and the eight legged horse to his children and grandchildren for years to come. No one believed him, of course, because it was just a story.

Right?


End file.
